The Designer's Notebook News

The professional news page of Ernest W. Adams, author of The Designer's Notebook.

Thursday, October 30, 2003

IGDA Chapter Inaugural Lecture at the University of Lincoln

Lincoln, UK

This was an overnight trip to Lincoln, the home of a spectacular cathedral and also the University of Lincoln, which is starting up a student chapter of the IGDA. As the organization's first chairman, I was privileged to deliver the inaugural lecture for the chapter thanks to the invitation of my host, Mark Doughty. It was called "Overview of the Interactive Entertainment Industry," a basic introduction for newcomers. The lecture was well-attended -- a whole busload of them had come down from Hull, the Universitys former home -- and the crowd somewhat merry. Afterwards I signed and sold books, and went to the pub for a while with the die-hards. Great fun.

Thursday, October 23, 2003

Keynote at the Digital Storytelling Society Conference, South Korea

Seoul, South Korea

This was a short but interesting two-day conference in South Korea. I was invited to deliver one of the keynotes on the first day, so I gave them "Interactivity versus Narrative: This Time It's War!" It seemed to go over very well, probably in part due to the simultaneous translation that was available. In the course of the conference I met some fascinating people: David Howard, a professor of screenwriting at USC; Jinzo Toriumi, an elderly and very famous Japanese animation director; and Tim Petras of the Microsoft Game Studios, who is doing some extremely interesting work on on-line interactive entertainment that is not a game. I was put up in a five-star hotel and treated like a king the whole time -- several sumptuous banquets of excellent Korean food.

About Me

Dr. Ernest Adams is an independent game design consultant, writer, and teacher. He has been in the game industry since 1989, and is the author of Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design with Joris Dormans,Fundamentals of Game Design, Second Edition, andBreak Into the Game Industry: How to Get a Job Making Video Games. Ernest was most recently employed as a lead designer at Bullfrog Productions on theDungeon Keeperseries, and for several years before that he was the audio/video producer on theMadden NFL football product line. He is the founder of the International Game Developers' Association, and is a popular lecturer at the Game Developers' Conference and many other events.